This invention relates to lamp socket assemblies and their mounting panels, and, in particular, to lamp socket assemblies and mounting panels used in tail lights of automobiles and the like.
A number of differently configured lamp socket assemblies particularly well suited for use in tail light assemblies have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,422, U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,429, U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,702, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,643. While these lamp sockets have proven highly successful from an operational standpoint, their assembly into vehicle requires a significant amount of time and effort for a variety of reasons.
For instance, in the past, these lamp socket assemblies were installed directly into the parabolic reflector surfaces of the lamp housing by providing keyed apertures in these surfaces. After recognizing the desirability of making the apertures in these parabolic reflector surfaces through which the lamps protrude as small as possible, a design modification was initiated. Specifically, separate keyed apertured panels were welded to the lamp housing directly behind apertures in the parabolic reflector surfaces. The purpose of the keyed aperture panels was to receive the socket assemblies. By means of this arrangement the apertures in the parabolic reflectors only needed to be large enough to accommodate a bulb. Thus while the separate panels receive the lamp socket, the bulbs themselves extended through the parabolic reflector surface. While effective, the need to provide multiple panels to which the lamp socket assemblies are be individually mounted is undesirable as it complicates assembly and therefore adds cost.
One manner of speeding assembly of tail lights has been to provide backplate assemblies which can accommodate multiple lamps. These backplate assemblies may then be electrically wired to a power source of the vehicle to provide electricity to all the lamps. Previously, a variety of backplate assemblies have been utilized in which lamp sockets were mounted to the backplate and the entire backplate assembly was fixed to the lamp housing. Seals were positioned intermediate the backplate and lamp housing to attempt to prevent moisture from reaching the lamp sockets into which the lamps were inserted.
A serious shortcoming of these designs stemmed from the fact that the lamp sockets were not removable from the backplate assembly. Consequently, whenever a lamp burned out or was otherwise inoperative, access to that lamp was provided by removing the entire backplate assembly from the lamp housing. After relamping, subsequent attempts to remount the backplate frequently tended to compromise the integrity of the seal, which in turn created the possibility of moisture reaching the lamp sockets and causing damaging corrosion.
Another shortcoming of many backplates has been that the integral circuitry was not adequately sealed within the backplate. Moisture penetrating the vehicle behind the lamp housing could then reach the circuitry and potentially impair its function.
Another type of backplate assembly which has been used, including multiple bulbs, has been a hard wired backplate assembly. In such an assembly individual wires connected the lamps and lamp sockets. This type of arrangement did not lend itself to automation and therefore tended to be costly. It is therefore desired to provide a backplate assembly which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art backplate assemblies. Furthermore it is desired to provide a lamp socket assembly for use with a backplate assembly.